Elton Brown 0:09

Welcome to SpeakUP! International with Rita Burke and Elton Brown!

Rita Burke 0:16

Good day to you, Veronica Chapman! Veronica is our guest today, she comes from as far as the United States of America, she's an entrepreneur and an author. She's written and produced a motivational play for teens and published three books. Veronica is a graduate of Spelman and Babson College. She commits her gifts and ideas to improving the world and so to fulfill her commitment, she's founded Box Out Enterprises where she designs creative solutions for social change. One such solution is the Black Children's Book Week, and I believe, our talk today with Veronica. It's gonna be focused not only on that, but primarily a little bit on Black Children's Book Week. Welcome to SpeakUP! International, Veronica Chapman!

Veronica N. Chapman 1:19

Thank you so much for having me!

Elton Brown 1:21

I've been reading all of these wonderful things on your website and I noticed that you've written several books. One was written in English and in Spanish, and that's no surprise since you have a BA in Spanish. And then what's called I know I. And then you wrote a book in Spanish. It's totally in Spanish, and it's Sei que vou consequir! I think it means something like, I know what I'm to gather or something like that.

Veronica N. Chapman 1:54

So yes, the book in English is, I know I can, and it's also in Spanish and Brazilian. Portuguese. So in Spanish is and the one you just mentioned is in Brazilian, Portuguese.

Elton Brown 2:05

What is the goal for next year, this time? What is it that you want to have reached?

Veronica N. Chapman 2:14

My ultimate goal, I have a lot of goals I wrote on my vision board, which I rarely, I almost never do. And then I was inspired to do one. And at the top of it, it says, I wanna make the world better for black children. And I believe that starts with loving yourself. I believe it starts for all of it for everybody. I believe that you can only give love if you master loving in yourself. And Because I am a black woman and my lived experiences as a black child and now an adult I consider myself assigned to black children because I've lived that experience and I know what it is to grow up with people questioning your possibilities, and intelligence, just because of an of global anti-blackness, So for me, I really, I like the power the positive power, I'll say of being feeling like you can do something and being proactive, cuz it feels like you can be intentional about the things that matter most to you, and so that's what Box Out Enterprise is about and everything that I create, it's about knowing issues, challenges exist in the world, and not feeling deflated, not feeling like I can't do anything, despite the fact that we're witnessing so much trauma everywhere online in the news. I have the right. to find joy in life and to make sure that black children feel this joy and feel affirmed and loved. And for me, that's what it, that's what representation in children's books, for example. That's a purpose, that's one of the great things about it. So that's why my focus is there. And one thing that I really am committed to doing is connecting black children of the diaspora through children's books. And that's why I've kind of had books, my books translated, some of them are coming out in other languages. But I'm also interested in bridging connections. Like making sure that for instance if black author in Cuba has published a book about, they captured the black experience of children there. I want, black children in Canada and other places to be able to learn about that through children's books.

Rita Burke 4:14

It's obvious. Ms. Chapman that you are a busy super creative woman and I'm really impressed. I'll let you know. That a word that sticks out and has carved itself in my psyche a word that you've used in your response to Elton is the word joy. And I believe in my heart, I believe in all of my being, that's one thing that children need to know from day one to claim their joy. It's owed to them. They are in this world because they're supposed to be in this world and they're supposed to surround themselves with joy. And I think the adults in their lives, the caring adults in their lives need to be cognizant of that here's my question to you. Why is it necessary to have a Black Children's Book week?

Veronica N. Chapman 5:05

For me, because as you mentioned, I am a creative and I noticed that there's so many different weeks. There's a children's book week and there's other different weeks of celebration, the restaurant week, for example. But because of this joy, this commitment to make sure making sure that black children feel loved and affirmed, I said, we cannot ignore the fact that black children are experiencing more trauma. because they're born into societies that are racist. That's a fact. We can't ignore it. It is what it is, right? And we can, I, I don't like to waste my energy on things I can't control. So that means that if someone decides that they wanna be racist or any kind of ism or phobia that does not spread joy. If they decide that's what they wanna do with their life. I can't make the decision for them to be a better human that's not my decision. I really don't like to spend my energy on those kind of assignments of trying to change people when I know that even the way that I change myself and my thoughts and my ideas has been an eternal process. And I've sought, I want to be a great human, but everybody doesn't wake up saying, I want to be a great human. I do. So I said, because we can't ignore these experiences that our children are having. They can't, if they have locks, they don't want them given the val valedictorian speech, even if they're the valedictorian. This happens in Panama. It happens in the U.S. It happens in a lot of places where our kids are antagonized, and chastised and dehumanize. And I said, why not create a week that's about celebrating black children and the power of their representation. And why not make it a collective global assignment, a collective celebration because we all know, I don't care where you are. I don't, it doesn't really actually matter where you are. Everyone has. This because anti-blackness is global. When I released the idea, people everywhere whether they're in Nigeria, whether they're in Panama, whether they're in Jamaica, everyone was like, oh yeah, we need to do this. So for me it's I'm a joyful person. I like spreading joy and I wanted to invite people to do something that's fun because we're so often mourning, collectively online for a lot of the things that happen. So why not create something joyful for us to do and look forward to.

Elton Brown 7:26

I read something else where you talk about, this is part of your call to action and you raise the vibration in the world for black children, what does raise the vibration in the world mean to you?

Veronica N. Chapman 7:42

Sure. Raise the vibration in the world. Okay. For instance, people often say that when I walk into the room, they can feel it. They feel loved, they feel my energy, they feel that I have genuine love and respect for them, right? That is true actually, that's who I am. And I know so many people, we all have this power to do that. We all have the power to spread love and spread joy and promote positive energy. The reason why it's collective is because there's power in numbers. We, learn in whatever faith you are, a lot of people have faith around power, collective prayer, power of all these things. All, just power of being collective in a task assignment. So for me, raising the vibration means that collectively black children, in the presence of those of us who are celebrating, they will feel a love for them and that our and our commitment to their joy and their ability to thrive, not to survive this world, but thrive in it. That's what it means to me.

Rita Burke 8:48

You said several times about your being a joyful person and when you enter a room that people say your presence is felt, and I think that's marvelous, where did you learn to be joyful? Where did it come from?

Veronica N. Chapman 9:04

It's interesting. I went through this period of sadness. I was very sad because I am a person who cares about what goes on in the world, I traveled, I studied abroad. I was in France for example, during when nine eleven happened and I was in, I've studied in Spain and Mexico and other places. and I remember that year just coming back and my cousin had been killed while it was abroad.

Elton Brown 9:29

Wow.

Veronica N. Chapman 9:29

And there was just a lot of turmoil, turmoil going on and I was just really devastated just by the decisions humans make while they're on earth I was just very devastated and I think I was like in a room for a week. Just very sad, and I remember just actually what ended up happening was just and there were a couple other things going on. So it was like through this process of like forgiveness and then recognizing, I guess what the world offers black people, but then basically saying, I still have the power to do great things, to address things and bring joyful things. I'm the kind of person who wakes up. It says, okay, God, what do you have for me to do today in my life? Am I being obedient to that? Like my the other things my friends say you're so obedient. Like I am very much, I don't feel like I'm not a very religious person in the sense of organized, but I have always been the type of child who knew that there was a calling and I knew I was raised to believe in like God in a, in, a creator. And I've only wanted to do what I'm here to. I'm actually not interested in anything else other than what I'm here to do. And I feel like through that power of sadness, there was a lot of okay, so what am I here to do again? And what do you, what am I called to do? And I feel like once I went through this process of darkness, at the end of that process was the joy and it hasn't left me since and that was in 2000 four.

Elton Brown 11:08

This is a amazing story. During your virtual author visits, which I found to be quite interesting. There's some themes that you cover, like global exploration, self-empowerment, social justice. Please tell us how those themes improve the lives, and open the eyes of your readers.

Veronica N. Chapman 11:34

It's interesting. I love for example, I love doing author visits. Because the same thing I, it's I've, and I've been doing it a lot recently and it's interesting because I think sometimes when we're doing things we can discount what we're doing cuz we're loving it so much and we know it's necessary. But when you're in front of kids, cuz kids are honest, they're not gonna. There's no sugarcoated. They have no reason to lie to you. And when you're in front of kids and you see how you can get them thinking about things that they did not think about before they met you, before they had this experience with you. I asked children, where do you wanna try? Because for one question I asked them, cuz I have a book called King Khalid is PROUD and we talk about, what will you do with your name. Right. So and it's the idea that someone gives you your name most of the times unless you change it. Someone's giving you your name at birth. So that's not within your control. But what you do with it is within your control, right? So if you wanna become an author, if you wanna become a world traveler, if you wanna become a doctor, an artist, and for me, it's important to teach children about global awareness and things like that because we are here collectively, we're here collectively like if a pandemic starts in China, it's gonna reach everywhere else. Why? Because we are here collectively. And I think, again, I want, the reason why I start I say I, I write books that make children believe in themselves and love themselves. Because I want them to be able to love others in the world and else, and then there was a second part to your question that you asked me that I don't quite remember the second part,

Elton Brown 13:08

How do you see the lives of these kids after they've gone through this virtual author visit conversation?

Veronica N. Chapman 13:19

Sure. So a lot of times. It's a combination of reading the book and attending the virtual events. One is seeing is believing. When kids get the book, what they do is they look at the back cover. Cuz that's where, the information from my books my photo, my headshot's on there. And then they look at me to double check They wanna be sure that I'm the person who wrote this book. And then they'll ask you, did you really write this book? And then I'll say, I wrote it for you cuz it's true. I wrote it for you. So what the feedback I usually get is from parents after the fact. They'll say, I don't know what you put in this book or what you said. So this is one example I've gotten. My kid sleeps with your book under his pillow. And he told me we have to start a business.

Elton Brown 14:05

Wow.

Veronica N. Chapman 14:06

This other mother said, my child already had high self-esteem, but now her self-esteem is through the roof after reading your book! This is the bottom line for me. I wanna live in a world where people feel like they can follow through on their ideas and their visions, there's no way that my ideas would be the same as yours. And that's why we have to love and honor ourselves. So we feel confident enough to act in our ideas and for me, the reason why I write for children is because I want people growing up with that belief because I meet adults cuz adults by children's books who read my children's books and they say, if I had this book when I was a child, who knows where I'd be? And I have to remind them that they're still alive. So it's fine don't worry about it. But, so I actually, the beginning is I used to design educational workshops around global awareness and just different themes, entrepreneurship for teenagers. And I just started thinking, how can I reach younger children so that by the time that I work with them as a teenager, they already have some ideas. Like they're already convinced that they're great, that they believe in themselves, that they know they can, that they're proud of themselves. So that's the reason why I started writing children's books. All of my actions are in response to a challenge. Okay yes, working with teenager. I love it. It's fun, but it'd be helpful if they already, if I'd have to convince them that they're great when they're 16, if they already knew, if they were like eight or seven reading and they grew up. Knowing this, so that's actually the whole reason I even started writing children's book cause I had no aspirations of being an author. It was more like problem solution

Rita Burke 15:43

Sounds truly fascinating. Veronica, if you're just joining us, we're speaking with Veronica Chapman, who's an entrepreneur and an author the founder and designer and curator of Black Children's Book Week! Now on SpeakUP! International we aim to inspire, to inform and to educate, and I think at this point we're meeting all of those goals and expectations with Veronica's answers! But here, Veronica is what I want to ask you is, talk to us about your experience as a child with representation in books?

Veronica N. Chapman 16:25

It's interesting. I don't think as a child that I saw myself in a lot of books. I grew up around a lot of music. So it's interesting for me because what I remember affirming me most as a child was, to be young, gifted a Black by Nina Simone, or of course say it loud, I'm black and I'm proud. Like these are songs that my parents would play to affirm me. And my mom's from Detroit, so of course I grew up a lot of Motown and the story of Barry Gordy and how inspiring that is. And there. There's maybe one book that had black representation. But when it made that book, the best is the way my aunt read it to me, So I don't think it was a very clever book, but I don't even I don't know the title, but I remember there was, a black little girl, but it was, there was like maybe one book with black representation. I grew up in a village setting, right? So my mom is one of 15 children. So I have a lot of aunts, a lot of aunts and uncles who affirm me. My parents affirm me and my godparents. So I just was very fortunate in the village that I had, even if I didn't have the representation. But the reason why I write children's books is cuz I recognize that everyone does not have the village that I have. And that is actually another reason why books to me are important because I write with the intention that children feel loved because unfortunately, all children being born do not feel loved in their childhood, and I know that I'm privileged to have received love from my parents, from my, like everybody, so that's another reason why books are so important. Even if I did not have a lot of books of representation, I had in-person representation

Elton Brown 18:15

So where can people find more information about Black Children's Week and contribute?

Veronica N. Chapman 18:22

If you go to blackchildren'sbookweek.org, you will find more information and there's a video, there's two important things on the landing page. The inaugural year was last year and I held like a, this is what we're this is what I'm launching, event that was online and the videos still, there are about like 300 people at attended last year and it was like the kickoff of the idea, like this is what I'm envisioning, this is what we're gonna do. This is, there's this new thing in town called Black Children's Book Week, so I think, everyone should watch that video so that they understand the attention and love behind it. And the great thing about it being on YouTube and it's on the web, the website, is that it will always be there for reference. Like whether I'm on the planet or not. As long as YouTube's around, it'll be there for reference so people can understand what the intention is behind it. Because I think, like a game of telephone, you can start a story and then by, by the time it gets to the last person, they're like, okay, so what is it now? The other thing, there's like a checklist of the ways that one can celebrate Black Children's Book Week. So I wanted to make it accessible to everyone. Some people are hosting events, but some people are reading a book to the children in their family. Some people are going to the library to request the book. Some people are doing a book reading, so it's like there are a lot of different ways to celebrate also some people are sponsoring Black Children's Book Week and the funny thing about this, okay, so I'm a creative at it's the core of my being So I said, what would be a fun way to feature sponsors? So I built an entire Black Children's book museum. It's virtual, and this year I built it in the Metaverse. So it's in this like virtual space where people create, can create avatars and actually walk through the museum and they see all these books on display and they can click on the cover and shop the books from the museum, which is cool. And so we already have like over 300 people who are coming to our grand opening that's on February 25th from two Eastern standard to four o'clock. And that's just, that's always the Saturday before Black Children's Book Week starts, which is always the last Sunday in February. And we also on our website, have a button where you can attend events. So there's a collaborative calendar where people who are hosting events throughout the world, they've registered them on the website, you can see what's being posted. Some are in person, some are virtual, so you have options.

Elton Brown 20:54

Okay, so you said it was the last Sunday in?

Veronica N. Chapman 20:57

Black Children's book. Week start always starts on the last Sunday in February and goes to the following Saturday. So this year starts February 26th.

Rita Burke 21:05

So last year was your inaugural year. What were your thoughts after it was done after the week was over? How did you summarize in your mind or summarize out loud about the inaugural event?

Veronica N. Chapman 21:23

We talked about earlier how one of the goals is to raise the vibration in the world for black children, and we definitely accomplished that! The energy that week was contagious! It was so much fun and there's so much joy being spread. And it's interesting because it's Black Children's Book Week, but the child and adults came out to play like They were like, this week is for the child and me too. I'm claiming it for myself! That was wonderful. And I, after it, I. I thought, okay. Wow, that, that took a lot of work. I built the the technology that allows for these things to happen. So I'm the one who like added it to the website and created the systems, put the systems in place for, registering events, built the museum and designed the museum. That, that was a lot of work, but I had so much fun doing it that I, in the moment that I didn't realize how exhausted I was. So I think I slept for three weeks after Black Children's Book Week was over for three weeks! I don't even think I'd touched my laptop for a month, which was which is not normal for me. So I think I was just like, okay, this is something great and this is something that I want to make sure that remains. So that's why I said, it's so important that video, as long as YouTube's there, and I can probably put it somewhere else that it's there to document the intention behind launching it for years to come. So people can always reference it because it will always be needed. And and the feedback that I received was so great too, because the idea behind it is, people are already doing great things. Like people are publishing books. That is, I call it, activism. You're publishing, you're a black author and you're publishing books with black representation. Recognizing that there's a dearth of books, traditionally published. That's a form of activism. And so people are already doing the work. And I, and it gave us. A time and space to do things collaboratively and also it challenged people. So some other feedback I received was, I've had this book club for some years, know, I was scared to try new things and step out and do something different. But Black Children's Book Week challenged me to do this thing and I'm so grateful that, that you provided this opportunity for me to challenge myself. So like people who are already doing things, they felt challenged to do more to try something different. And also I think, see having people see me launch something so out and open, and say, Hey, this is for all of us. This is my idea, but this is for all of us and you can all play a part in this. The feedback that I received was, I really felt like I could be part of something great and that I had a role in something great and a lot of authors found themselves collaborating to host events. So they said, I've met so many authors because we wanted to work together for Black Children's Book Week. They're in my area and I didn't even know them before. So they're actually organizations, honestly, that have sprung from just my idea to launch Black Children's Book Week. It's like in their bio, we met during Black Children's Book Week, and that's amazing. That's an amazing thing. I'm grateful for the opportunity to do that.

Elton Brown 24:31

I'm quoting you now. I want to live in a world in which people feel empowered and compelled to act on their visions. How do you see that vision being applied to black children?

Veronica N. Chapman 24:44

That's what I was speaking about before in the sense of That's why I write books that make children believe in themselves, and that's why when I do workshops, I say we talk about, this whole thing. Like when I ask kids the question, what will you do with your name? They're like, what are you asking me? Exactly. Now, in one example, I gave them the example president, Barack Hussein Obama in the sense that somebody. President Barack Hussein Obama. And then he, with his, which is fine, he made a determination that he wanted to be an author, that he wanted to run for president and people had to vote for him. But these are things that were within his power, but his name was not in his power. So for children, you just have to frame it in the sense of sometimes children feel powerless. They don't feel like they have power because of like adult dynamics and it's interesting. I grew up recognizing that my parents are humans. Like they're humans, and I, I was growing and they were growing, there's no you don't get to a certain age and then you stop growing. You're continuously growing. And so I just wanted children to get this in their mind. That they do have the power to make decisions for their lives, and we want them to make great decisions, and I want them to feel affirmed and loved so that they can do things that make themselves proud. And that's the other idea. A lot of people, if you think about social media and how it works, a lot of people wanna feel validated by somebody else, but really we need to be validating ourselves. And so for me, it's also. Yes, it's beautiful. For instance, King Khalid is PROUD. It's beautiful when someone tells you that they're proud of you, your mom, your teacher. But what about challenging yourself and doing something that makes you proud of yourself? And that to me, again, helps children feel empowered. And so that, that's really what I want. I want children to feel empowered.

Rita Burke 26:35

I really like that because I too believe that it's critical and it's important for the caring adults in children's lives to guide them along that path of feeling that they could self-affirm

Veronica N. Chapman 26:49

Mm-hmm.

Rita Burke 26:50

there is no question about that because it begins with self. And as you said, some of the adults were so happy to read the children's books because they themselves probably didn't have the opportunity. And as I mentioned to you when we spoke That we run a huddle. on the second and fourth Thursday of every month for adults who like children's looks. And we just meet and we talk and we share the titles and perhaps the themes and we have a really wonderful time because some of us adults were never read to we were children. So that's where we do that. Now, one last question from me. What's your favorite children's book?

Veronica N. Chapman 27:35

My favorite children's book. This I know you, I, this is a really, I love so many of them! Don't make me do... I love so many of them! But I think one of my favorite books is one that I haven't. Oh, okay. So I have two parts to this. One of my favorite children's books is one that I haven't published yet, and I really love it and you'll see it when I publish it. It's a double board book, a one side. It's a double board book, a one side, it's called I Can Dress Myself, and this is cute story about this little child who's I can dress myself. He's all talking about all the things he can do for himself, but he needs help along the way for the entire book, but it's it's cute and the other half is called like potty party. And it's just like people are saying that they need more potty books with black representation for children. I wanted to like find a fun way of presenting this concept of the part potty, using the potty with black representation, but also, again, because I write books that make, children believe in themselves. It's also, fun topics but even for a blurred book, it's again, instilling this idea that you can do things But I'm also gonna say there's another book that I really love. It's called the ABCs of Black Wall Street and it's by an author. Oh, I have it downstairs. The ABCs of Black Wall Street. Let me see. See I got, I have to get this. And it's just one of my favorite children's books. It's a board book. And I. Also like a t-shirt company that elevates the unsung contributions of black people in the United States called Thank You Tees and one of the people we highlight is O. W. Girly, who was like one of the leading business people on Black Wall Street. And this is the first children's book in which I've seen him mentioned which I think is just amazing. So it's one of my favorite children's books for sure.

Elton Brown 29:36

Wow! This has been such a wonderful conversation with you. I'm really having a hard time saying we're gonna bring this to an end. You have so much positive energy and even though we are connected electronically, I can still feel that energy being streamed across the network. So I really do appreciate the time that we have spent together. I really enjoyed reading everything about you and that's one of the reasons why I fell into the black hole yesterday because I thought, okay, I'm just gonna read a couple things. And before I knew it, I was reading everything and it was just so impressive and so positive and well written. I am proud of what you are doing for everyone.

Veronica N. Chapman 30:33

Thank you.

Elton Brown 30:34

on an international level. I hope that in the future that we get an opportunity to talk to you again maybe after your book week for our children.

Veronica N. Chapman 30:48

Yes.

Elton Brown 30:49

That would be a wonderful thing. We hope you have a wonderful afternoon and that we get to see you soon.

Veronica N. Chapman 30:57

Thank you so much for having me.

Elton Brown 31:09

Thank you for listening to SpeakUP! International. For more information about our guest, Veronica Chapman and her professional services, please visit her website. At www.boxxout.com. If you would like to have a conversation with us, SpeakUP! International, please drop us a message containing your name company and email address to info@speakuppodcast.ca. To connect to our podcast using Spotify or your favorite podcast platform search for SpeakUP! International. You can also find our podcasts using our web address www.speakuppodcast.ca. Our logo has the woman with our finger pointing up mouth open speaking up!